


Sunlight

by anthean



Series: sunlight [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Alien Biology, Imperial Academy Bunk Beds, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 22:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13936485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthean/pseuds/anthean
Summary: "Which is to say I think that Thrawn chilling in front of a sun lamp every morning is a totally valid headcanon." -- tumblr user xenoarcana





	Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is all tristesses's fault (with an honorable mention to 13th_blackbird).

Thrawn is sitting at his workstation when Eli returns to their room, staring at a pile of disassembled electronics with a faint frown.

“New project?” Eli asks, heading across the room to the wardrobe. “Homework? I don’t remember that assignment.” He doesn’t really care about the answer. If Thrawn wants to spend their off-day in their room fiddling with wires, that’s fine. Eli had gone to the gym in the morning, and was now going to seek out somewhere quiet to study for his Navigation exam—and not coincidentally get away from the Chiss for a while.

Thrawn doesn’t look up. “A personal project,” he says. “If I could have your assistance for a moment. I need, ah, a third hand.”

No _please_ , but Eli hardly expected it. He walks over and holds a wire in place with a pair of pliers while Thrawn tightens a tiny screw. From this angle, the circuits and components look familiar, and he leans in to get a better view. “Is that…that’s a full spectrum lamp,” he says finally. “But you’ve modified the output somehow.”

“Yes,” Thrawn says. He tightens a final screw, then snaps the lamp’s backplate closed, flips it over, and switches it on.

The light that floods out is almost what Eli would expect from an unmodified full spectrum lamp, but as his eyes adjust he realizes that the light is a little redder, a little less intense.

“The Chiss homestar belongs to a different spectral class then that of Coruscant Prime, and therefore of the illumination common to most Imperial planets,” Thrawn says. He switches the light off again with a slight drop of his shoulders that, on anyone else, might almost have been a sigh. “Prolonged light deprivation is not unhealthy, but there are certain chemical compounds that are easier for my body to synthesize with light of the correct composition. As my stay in the Empire will likely be permanent, I would rather address the problem now.”

Eli pushes some discarded wires out of the way and perches on the edge of the desk. “It’s the same for humans,” he says, intrigued despite himself. The more time he spends around Thrawn, the further away the Chiss seems from the myths of Eli’s childhood: not a legendary figure, but one rooted in plain physical reality just as firmly as Eli himself. “It’s why most of the lighting on Imperial ships is the same spectrum as Coruscant Prime, because we can get really sick without adequate sun exposure. You could probably have just gone to Medical and requested a lamp, lots of cadets use them.”

Thrawn looks up at him then, and something about the set of his mouth, the positions of the muscles around his eyes, makes Eli pause. It’s the look of: _you’re missing something_ , already unfortunately familiar. He thinks the situation through again.

“Except,” Eli finally says, “Medical probably doesn’t know anything about Chiss biology, and wouldn’t have the right kind of lamp on-hand. Of course.” And, he adds to himself, you wouldn’t tell them. There’s no way you would volunteer information that could potentially lead to the location of the Chiss home system, even for your own health.

“Hence the need to make my own,” Thrawn agrees.

Eli hops off the desk. “Hence, indeed,” he says. Interesting as this has been, he’s still wearing his dirty gym clothes, and his hair is damp with sweat. He returns to the wardrobe to grab a change of clothes and a towel.

When he turns around, Thrawn is stretched full-length on his bunk, eyes closed, his uniform jacket and shirt removed and his hands clasped on his belly. The lamp is clipped to the underside of Eli’s bunk, and Thrawn is bathed in that reddish alien light. Under its illumination, Thrawn’s blue skin is less intense, and the shadows around his neck and throat are almost purple.

This is what he looks like on his home world, Eli thinks, letting his eyes linger on the sharp bones of Thrawn’s face, softened by the light, and on his long, folded hands. It’s a compelling sight, more like the legendary figures that still sometimes walk Eli’s dreams, like something not quite real.

Then Thrawn opens his eyes and looks at Eli, and Eli startles, hands tightening on his towel.

“I would prefer to use this light in the mornings, and possibly at other times of the day as well,” Thrawn says. “Is that acceptable to you?”

“Yeah, uh, yes. That’s fine,” Eli says. More than fine, he thinks, and then wonders why.

“Good,” Thrawn says, and closes his eyes again. Eli isn’t sure, but the thinks that’s _satisfaction_ playing around Thrawn’s mouth, and that’s…interesting.

“Fine,” Eli says again, and retreats to the ‘fresher.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I'm a Californian living in Scandinavia. Vitamin D deficiency is something I spend a lot of time thinking about.


End file.
